Conference calls have traditionally been a third party hosted service. However more recently conference call systems, both video and audio, have evolved to where enterprise users now have the freedom to conduct quick and secure conferences from any location or device without the need for third party conference initiators or administrators to set-up, schedule or moderate conference calls. These conference users have the flexibility to be reached on traditional PBX (Private Branch exchange) desk sets, VoIP (Voice over IP), WiFi, cellular, home office and even soft-phones. Nevertheless, despite this flexibility, security boundaries must still be managed for the conference call.
Managing who is on a conference call can be an important feature to ensure the call is conducted efficiently and within its security boundaries. These security boundaries traditionally included restrictions on the participants. While techniques for validation of participants are known. There are situations where even if the user is authorized, a company may not want an employee or conference call participant to participate in a conference call unless some other security criteria are satisfied.
For example if the conference call participant is using a speaker phone then others may be able to eavesdrop on the conversation if the participant is not in a secure location.
In conference calls with a long agenda, participants or the moderator may find it useful to know when individuals enter and leave a call in order to ensure that the appropriate people are present for specific agenda items. Similarly, in conference calls where a large number of people are in a room and on speakerphone with other participants, it can be difficult to know who is still in the room, as participants may enter and leave the room throughout the conference. Security may also become an issue if certain topics are only appropriate for a limited audience.
It is understood that absolute security may no be possible however there is still a need for a system and method to reduce security breaches in conference calls.